My oldest had lots of signs of dyslexia and started readying pretty good on his own at about 9. He’s 12 now and can read adult reading level books. Still can’t spell all that well, but he’s reading is fine.

<p style=”text-align: left;”>I’m so glad you brought this up! I have been thinking about it too.</p>
The way I see it, those who treat dyslexia are addressing the “just wait it out” or “he will grow out of it” advice. True dyslexia is a lifelong condition. One of mine has that. We used Stevenson Learning Skills program for several years, and then various other materials including a Speed Reading book his senior year.

He didn’t grow out of it, but he says his reading and English skills are way better that a lot of adults.

Reading and spelling are not his strengths, but he is a confident reader and writer. We put in the work, and it payed off.

That said, there are many paths to reading and spelling proficiency. The Orton Gillingham method is the most popular, which includes Barton, All About Reading, and others.

Also, there are several alternative approaches such as Stevenson Learning, Dyslexia Games, Child 1st, PAL from IEW, Reading Reflex, and others.

We have tried a lot of programs for my youngest daughter. She has a short attention span and resists doing tasks that are hard for her.

For my younger boys, I am using Christian Light Education’s Reading program, but I am tweaking it a lot, adding Orton Gillingham elements. I ordered the book “Blast Off to Reading” used on Amazon to help with ideas.

We have used Charlotte Mason reading lessons too. I prefer those, but feel that my little boys need more. We use Spelling You See for spelling.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Charlotte Mason had an occasional student with dyslexia. She probably simply slowed the pace, adding more review, and studied the individual child. Studying the child, being confident, patient, and learning all you can as a teacher are key. Again, many ways to do that, ranging from a local, professional tutoring center to a Supermom who prays and knows her child:)

So, I can’t answer if CM lessons are enough in your situation, but if he is progressing in reading and spelling and enjoying lessons, I would continue for now.

Never measure your child to someone else’s expectations. You guys are enjoying Delightful Reading and most importantly, he is making progress! Growth is the goal of education. If he quits growing then you’ll want to evaluate what you guys are doing. Sonya wrote an article, The Heart of Education, which is directed towards families of special needs children however the message rings true for every child, every family. It’s a wonderful read. I pray you will be encouraged.

There are also variations of dyslexia and sometimes early interventions are needed and sometimes kids just need time and consistency.

Something I also learned is thaf spelling and reading are different parts of language arts process. So one can be easier than the other, or both challenging. I could always read well as a student, but spelling was and is still hard for me, but always improving. My mom thinks I might have had a form of dyslexia, and the traditional phonics (OG methods) did not work for me at all (they only brought tears because memorizing rules made no sense in my mind, still doesn’t, haha), so my mom sort of let spelling go and worked with me in different ways and had to change up the methods compared to how she taught my siblings (we were all homeschooled).

As an adult, I find what has helped me the most is reading aloud. I could read books, challenging bools, and my comprehension was high because when reading to self I could skip tough words and still get the idea of the book. As an adult I started reading aloud to my kids and my spelling has improved so much. I think seeing and hearing the words, slowing down to read, has helped words stick so much better. So my kids, even my 8th grader, still reads to me.

So all that aside… It is so good that you are aware of your child’s learning process but if what you are using is working and he is making progress I would not rush to change. None of my kids were early readers, closer to 9 before it got easier and it seemed like until middle school before spelling improved, but they needed that time and they all enjoy reading and writing and the spelling is coming along 🙂